Freetown — Foreign affairs minister Zainab Bangura has reported exhaustion after she was taken on a conducted tour of the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo skills acquisition centre at Waterloo.

The huge complex is a skills acquisition centre which was formally handed over to the government of Sierra Leone by the Nigerian high commissioner to Sierra Leone, Chief Godson O. Echegile late last week.

He noted that the centre constructed and equipped by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria came about as a result of a tripartite agreement between Nigeria, Libya and South Africa made at the defunct OAU's last summit at Lusaka, Zambia.

The agreement which led to the three countries pledging to assist the government of Sierra Leone with US$10m each was a response to a request the OAU body made to its member states to assist Sierra Leone in her post conflict and development efforts.

Nigeria, the high commissioner went on, undertook to intervene in the areas of youth empowerment and the judiciary while Libya and South Africa went for health and the rehabilitation of electricity respectively.

The skills centre comprises four blocks of two bedroom semi detached flats for the centre's staff; three blocks consisting six workshops; an ICT centre, multi-purpose hall, borehole, overhead tanks with storage capacity of 10,000 litres, two generators of 500KVA and 250 KVA, fuel dump of 8,000 gallons capacity and 4 vehicles comprising two Toyota Hiace buses and two Nissan Jeeps.

The centre would provide training in tailoring, food processing, carpentry, bricklaying and masonry, plumbing, hair dressing and cosmetology, information and computer technology, welding and electrical technology.

His Excellency Chief Godson O. Echegile further noted that his country had also been involved in the rehabilitation and furnishing of the Islamic Secondary School Sumbuya, including the constructions of the Gbinti Secondary School and Baiima Secondary School.

The envoy equally disclosed that the judiciary had previously benefited from the donation of 15 vehicles including five Mercedes Benz Saloons and 10 Toyota Land Cruiser Jeeps.